SSE Airtricity announces 5% gas and electricity price cuts
Mark Whelan
Staff Writer

On the day when electricity prices cuts from Electric Ireland, PrePayPower and Pinergy come into effect, SSE Airtricity has added further fuel to Ireland’s energy price war by announcing a range of cuts of its own.

From August 1st, SSE Airtricity’s standard unit rates for gas and electricity will be cut by 5% for all of its 400,000 customers, as well as for new customers.

And in keeping with the tradition of the supplier’s recent cuts, the standing charges for gas and electricity will be cut by 5% too.

Electricity bills to fall by €57

SSE Airtricity’s 5% price cut will take the supplier’s standard unit rate for electricity down to 15.65 cent per kWh, excluding VAT. The standing charge cut means that customers will pay around €133 a year for this expense, again excluding VAT.

Taking all taxes and charges into account, SSE Airtricity customers with average consumption will save about €57 a year on their electricity bills, thanks to the cuts.

Gas bills to fall by €44

The supplier’s gas price reduction will bring the standard unit rate for the fuel down to 4.80 cent per kWh, and the standing charge down to just under €85 a year, both figures excluding VAT.

This means that SSE Airtricity’s gas customers will save roughly €44 a year on their bills, as a result of the reductions.

Altogether, customers who get their gas and electricity from SSE Airtricity will save €101 a year as a result of the supplier’s price cuts.

8% Reward Discount

Today’s good news for existing SSE Airtricity customers doesn’t end with the 5% gas and electricity price cuts though. The supplier has also announced a brand new 8% Reward Discount, which will be available to customers who are no longer on introductory discounted rates.

At the moment, the supplier offers all of its dual fuel customers an automatic and unlimited 4% discount, totalling an average saving of €68 a year against its standard rates. There is now an option to double this discount to 8%, which would total an average annual saving of €135 against the supplier’s standard rates.

This 8% discount is available to customers who opt-in for a one-year or two-year contract extension, after which they will be put back on the unlimited 4% discount.

Loyalty being rewarded?

This is an interesting aspect of SSE Airtricity’s announcement today, particularly following Electric Ireland’s recent announcement of an 8.5% loyalty discount for existing customers.

There is an increasing effort among suppliers to retain customers beyond the duration of their first year introductory discounts, perhaps prompted by the recent news that Ireland is number two in the EU for electricity switching and number one for gas switching.

However, despite the encouraging news for existing customers who are being rewarded for their loyalty, the biggest discounts still remain for those who switch suppliers.

Good news for customers

The recent flurry of price cuts from Ireland’s energy suppliers shows that, although we have the third highest electricity prices in the EU, savings from low wholesale prices are being passed on to customers in the form of price cuts and, to a greater extend, large new customer discounts.